Quality research clearly has become a valued tool in NCAA decision-making, but ultimately it is people, rather than numbers, who decide issues.

The efforts of the NCAA research staff and its consulting researchers are reviewed, guided and even challenged by an assortment of NCAA committees and review panels whose advice, questions and overall guidance help shape Association policies.

Among the key elements of the NCAA's research efforts:

NCAA Research Committee: Formed from the initial Special Committee for Academic Research, this 10-member committee is responsible for evaluation, supervision and coordination of the Association's research efforts, and is charged with making recommendations regarding research topics to the Divisions I, II and III Management Councils. It also is responsible for recommending to the NCAA Executive Committee the expenditure of Association funds for research projects.

The committee also actively consults with researchers on the design of research projects.

Data Analysis Research Network: The contributions of this group to the research effort often go unnoticed by the NCAA membership, but this panel of scientists, representatives of educational testing services, and individuals from within the NCAA membership who are knowledgeable about data collection and analysis plays a key role in reviewing and checking research procedures. "We start with them, to a great extent, trying to identify the best methodology," said Todd Petr, NCAA managing director of research.

The group -- chaired by James S. Jackson, professor of psychology at the University of Michigan -- meets twice a year to provide technical analysis for researchers. The group reports to the Research Committee.

Academic Consultants: In 1999, the Division I Board of Directors charged this group of consultants drawn from the NCAA membership with reviewing the Association's academic standards.

The group, whose members now include all members of the NCAA Academics/
Eligibility/Compliance Cabinet's initial-eligibility and continuing-eligibility subcommittees, plays an important role in framing questions to be addressed in research, and typically is the first membership-based group to review the extensive data resulting from research efforts. The group typically meets in conjunction with meetings of the Academics/Eligibility/Compliance Cabinet.

NCAA committees: Several NCAA committees also take an active interest in research pertaining to subject areas that fall under their review.

Research pertaining to academic issues are of primary interest to panels like the initial-eligibility and continuing-eligibility subcommittees of the Division I Academics/Eligibility/Compliance Cabinet, as well as the Division II Academic Requirements Committee. The Association-wide Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee also has taken an active interest in academics-releated research through the years, in keeping with its responsibility to review issues related to NCAA policies that effect ethnic minorities.

In subject areas other than academics, the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports reviews and provides guidance for various research programs through its Drug-Testing and Drug-Education Subcommittee and its Sports Sciences Safety Subcommittee.

All of these committees often play a role in helping shape research questions or suggesting areas for study.

-- Jack Copeland